Start Over
by poorcuepine
Summary: This story is just post the Season 4 (and apparently the Series) finale.
1. Chapter 1

**This is post Season 4 finale. Last shot of the episode, Jim has been shot and is laying on the floor. His cell phone is ringing next to him. But it is just out of his reach….**

**Please note: I do not own any of these characters nor the title. I do not own "The Glades".**

**Chapter 1:**

He can't reach it. It is right there but he can't get to it. The pain… Two places… Jim Longworth, on the happiest day of his life only feels the life running out of him into puddles on the floor of his new home. If he could just reach harder….

STOMP! A booted foot begins the massacre of the ringing iPhone and Jim's lifeline. The lieutenant's eyes drifted up to look the owner of that boot in the eye.

"Yea. Karma can be a bitch." And the boot spins on the broken glass and electronics to slam the front door behind him. It would take too long for anyone to know where he was. By then it would be too late. The job was done. It was time to move on.

Callie had oohed and aaaahed over herself and her bridesmaids. She had received her 'something borrowed' from her future mother-in-law. Now it was time to get this moving. Where was her fiancé? Where was he? She looked over at the wall clock. The ceremony should have started 10 minutes ago. Suddenly, her heart stopped. It left her breathless. Something was wrong. Something was very very wrong. Callie ran back to her bridal room unzipping her dress mid-stride. She was in her street clothes within seconds pulling her veil out of her hair as she sprinted to find Carlos.

She ran almost into the medical examiner who was frantically dialing on his phone. Daniel was standing on his right with Manus on the other side, her hands on her anxiously perched on her hips.

"Where is he?" She demanded. Then she did a double take at the sudden arrival of the bride. "Why aren't you ready?" Manus was distracted.

"I was but something started to hurt and I know there is something wrong. Call him, Carlos. You need to call him right now!" Callie's voice was going up octave after octave. Her heart was pumping with anxiety but squeezing with terror. Something was WRONG!

"I am, Callie. He isn't answering!" Carlos was not worried that he was hurting the bride's feelings. He knew, as she knew, Jim wanted this marriage more than anything. He was not a run-away-groom.

"Daniel, use his phone to find him. Use his phone!" The bride was desperately barking orders to the poor assistant. Fortunately he had good practice working under scrutiny and was punching away at his iPad.

"What is going on? Why aren't you dressed? Where is Jim?" Michael, Jim's dad, had stomped up and was tossing his weight as the groom's dad around. He landed in front of a pacing Carlos ending in a collision. The two men just looked at each other and the phone between them.

Miranda, who had been following Jim's dad, skirted around him in time to grab her best friend and pull her away, albeit reluctantly. "Cal, what is going on?"

"I don't know" she whispered. "My heart hurts, Miranda. Something is terribly wrong. I have to find him." Her hand went to her chest as if massaging her heart from the outside. Hands were shaking and she felt like she was going to pass out. She needed to call upon her ER experience. She needed to separate herself and figure this out.

Miranda could see the change in her friend. She was breaking from the emotion and the doctor in her respected this move. Following suit, the two women approached Daniel looking for answers.

He was white as a sheet staring at his iPad. "It's gone….. It is just gone…." The examiner's assistant repeated himself as if in a trance until he realized Miranda and Callie were standing right in front of him. He addressed them with all he could say, "It was there. Then it was gone."

Carlos joined them in time to hear this last statement. "What are you talking about?"

"Sir…." his voice was shaking "it was there and then it wasnnnnnnn…." He couldn't finish his own sentence as the devastation hit him. Where was Jim?

"OK, Where was it, Daniel? Where? Where did it disappear?" Callie was taking over. She looked over his shoulder demanding he point on the map on the pad. He did and her eyes widened. It was the only sign Miranda got that she was in shock. She turned and ran for the parking lot at a sprint. Dr. Buckley was right on her tail. Behind her Colleen had her cell out and was reporting the address ending with the words every officer fears, "OFFICER DOWN!"

They were the last words Callie heard before she slammed the door of her car while starting the engine and whipping the car into reverse. Miranda had to leap into the moving car like Bo Duke. "Do you know where he is?"

"He is at my dream home, Miranda. Why is he at my…." She was tearing up and she could not afford to cry right now so she just stopped talking and slammed the accelerator to the floor. The SUV squealed out of the parking lot and launched onto the main road. She had no fear of getting a ticket. She would have welcomed the police following her.

As she approached she gasped. Jim's car was parked in front. Barely putting the car in park, Callie leapt out of the door leaving it open, car running as she sprinted for the front door with no concern for any danger. Jim had to be inside and he had to be in trouble! She never noticed the SWAT and other police cars screetching to a stop behind her.

"Callie STOOOOP!" Miranda was chasing her and screaming. It didn't work as the front door was thrown open and her best friend sprinted in with no regard to her safety.

"Jim….. no….." She slid across the floor on her knees to be next to him. He was laying there motionless in a pool of his own blood. Callie assessed the situation while speaking to her patient. She was back in ER mode.

The silence was numbing. No one knew where he was. He was losing his grasp on consciousness and all he could think of was Callie. But he was jerked from the darkness by the banging of the front door. How was he going to protect himself from another attack? He had to lay still and play opossum. It was his only hope… but he smelled it. It was a familiar scent. His scrambled brain was trying to think when something knocked his shoulder. "Cal?" he remembered that scent was her favorite perfume. His eyes fluttered open to see her kneeling over him.

"Jim, stay with me. I need you to stay conscious." She was looking him up and down, assessing the damage, he figured. And he was right. But then she gently grabbed his face and held it looking him in the eye. "Hey, I need you to look at me." He was trying but his eyes kept rolling back in his head. Consciousness was a constant battle and he wasn't always winning. But she shook him slightly, "focus. JIM! FOCUS ON ME!" His eyes rolled back to her and he squinted in concentration. "Just keep looking at me. Stay with me… please…." She wasn't looking at his face. What was she looking at? She was so focused – working so hard.

But Jim was numb and he did not feel that she was actually working on him. She was taking her t-shirt off… Callie lightly smacked his face again, "Jim! Come ON!" Why is she so mad at him? Jim wanted to reach up and touch her but his arm was too heavy. His whole body felt too heavy and he was sinking again.

Suddenly he was surrounded by people and the heightened activity and noise was making his head spin. He was losing focus on Callie! These people were pushing her away from him. Jim suddenly was concerned he wouldn't see her again. The thought made him lash out.

"Woah, Sir, it's ok. Please calm down, we got you! Sir, lay back down!" The faceless voices were pushing on him, yelling at him. Where was Callie?

But her face peeped between the masses. She looked worried. "Jim, these men are taking you to the hospital. I will be there when you get there. I promise! But you need to calm down, ok? Just focus on them, okay?" She leaned over and kissed his forehead and backed away addressing the paramedic next to her. "Keep talking to him – do NOT stop talking to him!"

She watched them push him into the ambulance and shut the doors and she sprinted for her car. Miranda was already behind the wheel, engine started. "Get in! I already punched in the hospital address."

**I hope you enjoy. I will try to post Chapters as often as I can. Feel free to provide criticism. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi Everyone, it was great to see so many people following my story. There are so many good ones here, I am feeling a bit intimidated! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I do have a plan and I am attempting to get a few chapters ahead to help me write a better story. **

**I apologize for not having proper dividers between scenes. I have altered that here and hope it works. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.**

**I do not own any part of THE GLADES.**

**Chapter 2:**

They watched Callie sprint to her car wishing they could follow the ambulance with Jim inside, also. But work needed to be done at the scene of the crime. Colleen directed her demand to Carlos without turning from the scene in front of her. She was quietly stern. "I want forensics here, now."

The statement by his chief elicited a curt nod from the medical examiner and he spun to re-enter the house while making the necessary phone calls.

Within 10 minutes, the truck had pulled up and 5 forensic examiners were milling around taking photos, making notes, taking measurements and documenting the scene. Daniel was wandering amongst them attempting to micromanage the information they were gathering. He had this need to SEE what they were all seeing mainly because he could see nothing.

Inside the house, the clues were almost non-existent. Whoever had done this had left no sign but the dying body of Jim Longworth. There were no bullets left, no shells around, no dirt, fingerprints, hair. There were no signs of a struggle except the decimated shell of the detective's phone. The dents in the wood floor revealed the power used to snuff out his only life connection. If it hadn't been for Daniel pinging Jim's phone GPS just before it was snuffed out, they never would have made it in time.

Inside the ambulance, the bright overhead light was hurting his eyes. The paramedic with him was tearing open packets with his teeth and reaching around him. Jim was feeling lighter and lighter.

"Jim, right?" Where did that voice come from? "Hey, it's gonna be okay. Your wife is a great nurse. She is gonna take great care of you, okay? Sir? You with me? Stay with me, Jim!"

He rolled his eyes forward searching for the source of all this talk. He was doing everything he could to stay conscious but the darkness was pulling at him. He wanted to see Callie at the hospital. "how much longer?" he breathed.

"We're almost there" the paramedic answered while checking the IV line and checking his pulse.

When the ambulance pulled to a stop the nauseating flurry of activity began again. Jim just wanted to see Callie. He was holding it together by the finest of threads and he was beginning to lose the battle. But people were all around him yanking and jerking and shaking and poking and prodding and yelling and barking orders. He just wanted to see her and then sleep. Where was she? Where was he? What did she tell him before he got pulled away? He was starting to get agitated. There was no rest in the sea of frantic movement all around him. Jim couldn't get a full breath. It hurt to breathe and he began panting. He felt like he couldn't get any air and he was starting to panic. He had no control! No one was listening to him! Just as he thought he could not handle another second, there she was. His gorgeous Callie was there. She smiled at him and his heart rate slowed back down to normal.

"Jim, just keep looking at me, okay? They need to work on you but you can just keep looking at me. Shhhhhh. Just focus here." She had his undivided attention. She could not believe that he had not crashed on his way to the hospital. This man was stronger than she could have imagined.

"I'm tired, Callie…" his voice was quiet and weak. He was struggling to find the air to speak.

"Shhhhhhh. In just a few minutes you can sleep, okay?" She was the calm in a chaotic storm of the room. Jim just kept his eyes on her face as the room began to shrink into dimness.

"We need to operate now, Callie. One of the bullets came dangerously close to the pulmonary artery. The ultrasound is inconclusive but he has lost so much blood I think it may have nicked it on its way through. The other bullet went straight through the large bowel. We need to get that cleaned up."

Without taking her eyes off her fiancé, she nodded in agreement. Her smile still calmly on her face, she gave none of her terror away. She whispered, "I agree, do it now." She put her hand gently on Jim's cheek and addressed him lovingly. "You can sleep now, sweetheart. I will be here when you wake up."

Jim felt relief wash over him as he closed his eyes and let the blackness take him…. finally.

The chaos rushed to the elevators leaving Callie in a pile of blood soaked gauze, dressings and mess. She just stood there not sure if she was allowed to let the vulnerable side show yet.

And that is how Miranda found her when she ran into the ER. She slowed her gait. Was Jim dead? No, there wasn't a body. They must have rushed him to the OR. Her quick assessment was done with an experienced eye but she knew she was not a doctor right now. She was here to be a best friend to a woman whose wedding day had been ruined by a great tragedy. She pulled her into a hug and let her friend break down. They stood there until the nurses had to walk around them to clean up.

The doctor turned her shell-shocked best friend down the hall, "Hey, let's get you cleaned up and fed. Jim won't be out of surgery for a couple of hours. He is going to need you to be ready when he wakes up." Directing her attention to the nurses behind the counter, "can you call her phone and let us know when he is getting out of surgery?" They all nodded. All of them knew Jim and loved Callie. This was very hard on them, too.

At the crime scene, after 3 hours there was no longer even a glimmer of light left in the day. The forensic Xenon lights blasting the surrounding yard in a shock of white light was not giving away any more clues. Daniel stood by the back door yawning and squinting in the bright lights. The perpetrator appeared to have flown in, done his work and disappeared without a trace. Daniel was feeling stumped and exhausted. When Jim was around, he felt he could keep going forever. Nothing got past the detective. He saw things no one else could but Jim's eyes weren't there and the investigation seemed frantically aimless.

Carlos soon joined him on the back patio. "It is time to go. We have photographed and analyzed every nook and cranny of this place. We will just have to review back at the lab. You can ride with me." The medical examiner headed back inside with his assistant following behind. The lights turned off behind them as the team was clearly following suit and packing up. Why did he feel like they were giving up?

Colleen stopped both at the door as the last of the outdoor lights turned off bathing them in the warm indoor lights of the Longworth home. "I want you both to go home. We will not find out anything tonight. We are too tired. Bring your fresh eyes tomorrow."

Both men nodded almost relieved and continued past her to Carlos's car where they both silently climbed in to drive off. Daniel's thoughts shifted to the observant man who had given him his start with the agency.

It was the sharpness of the pain that grabbed him from the quiet nothingness of his drug induced slumber. His throat felt raw and he was confused about where he was and what was going on. Jim's eyes shot open and he started to gag on the tube that was down his throat helping him breathe. The motion caused even more pain and the cycle raised his heart rate into panic-mode.

The convulsive and sudden movement of Jim awoke Callie instantly. She leapt to his side so he could see her and she placed a cool hand gently on his forehead. The reaction was instant. His eyes shot to her face. They immediately calmed and wrinkled on the edges into a smile. His mouth was unable to provide his patented grin.

She smiled back and quietly whispered, "hey." Her face looked exhausted with lines of worry and deep circles under her eyes. "Shhhh… you are okay. You are intubated to help you breathe. Just relax." She leaned in and placed a kiss on his forehead. "Are you in a lot of pain?" He didn't want to tell her but his body took over and he nodded.

With that, she raised his bed so that he was in a more seated position and hit his call button at the same time. The nurse entered with a needle and pushed it into the IV line. Instantly the relief washed over his battered body. But Jim just stared at Callie. He wanted to talk to her, touch her, kiss her, hold her. But this tube was in his throat and these wonderful drugs were making him feel so incredibly sleepy. The last thing he remembered before slumber took him was his fiance's lips on his forehead and the whisper in his ear, "I'll be here when you wake up."

**Chapter 3 will be a couple of weeks as I will be away from my computer.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I am back! Thank you so much for all the reviews! I am not suggesting this but just putting it out there…. There are a couple of petitions to bring The Glades back and if you are really upset and didn't know about these, you can search the internet and sign if you felt like it. Just a thought.**

**Thank you to duskbutterfly for the suggestion on how to add scene breaks. I hope I have been successful on this one. **

**Also, one more added note, I am suffering from a bit of writer's block so this chapter is a bit short and my next chapter may take me a teensy bit of time before I publish. Again, thank you so much for all the support.**

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000.

Colleen walked silently toward the dim room stopping in the doorway. The sight in front of her brought tears to her eyes. Her lieutenant lay motionless with tubes and wires emerging all over. Callie was slumped in a chair with her head resting on his bed, her strong hand clasping his limp one. The chief knew how much Jim loved her but it was clear the feeling was entirely mutual. Feeling guilty, she entered. They had an attempted murder to figure out and Colleen needed some answers.

"Callie?" her voice was low half hoping not to disturb the sleeping woman's rest but her eye's fluttered open and squinted toward the visitor.

"Mmmm?"

"Hey, I know this not a great time but I really need to ask you some questions."

Callie nodded and stood uncomfortably from her chair. Manus wondered how long she had been sitting there but she already knew the answer, the whole time. She motioned for the exhausted woman to lead her out of the room into the waiting area.

Once seated in the badly lit ICU room, the questions began.

"Callie, were you aware that your ex-husband has been in contact with your son?"

Head shake.

"Did you know that he has left the program and is no longer in witness protection?"

Stronger head shake and confused look. (Or was that fear?)

Colleen rubbed her temples. This was going to be much harder than she thought.

"Ok, um, is there anything you can think of that was unusual about the past couple of days?" What else could she ask?

"I've been planning a wedding with a massive storm rolling in. There have been cancellations… I haven't…. I don't….." She was overwhelmed by the news she had just heard and exhausted from the past 4 days watching the chest of the man she loved to make sure it was still rising and falling. How was she going to handle more?

"Callie, when was the last time you slept? When did you last eat?"

"Look, I'm fine. I am not leaving him. I need to get back in there." She walked away still mumbling, "I'm not leaving…"

Colleen just sat in the silent room holding her head in her hands, "Four days ago." Those two should be on the pristine beaches of Bermuda enjoying their honeymoon. Not in this dreary place hoping that Jim pulls through. She let out a heavy sigh to bolster herself and headed back to the station.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000000.

Daniel was leaning forward typing as fast as he could. He was a bit like a fox on a hound and Carlos was immediately drawn to his desk. Standing behind the youngster, he tried to keep up with the frantic searching that was taking place on the computer screen in front of them.

"What are you looking at?" The medical examiner's sudden deep voice caused his assistant to jump in surprise.

"What!? OH! Um, sir, I just… I can't get Detective Longworth out of my head. Someone shot him!" He turned to reveal a wan face, dark circles clearly visible under his eyes. The kid was distraught!

"Daniel, I know you are worried about Jim. We all are. But you need to go home and get some rest. We will figure all of this out in due time. The whole team is working on it." Carlos began to back away from the desk to head back to the lab. The reminder of his friend's current state was a constant black cloud over his day.

"But sir, I have been looking into some details of the new house. Did you know that Marshall Morales investigated the Detective Longworth and Callie's new neighborhood recently? Why do you think he would do that?" Daniel's voice was sounding more frantic as the questions seemed to begin rolling off his tongue uncontrollably.

"DANIEL, STOP!" Carlos rarely got mad so his demanding voice halted the young intern in his tracks. "THE TEAM IS RESEARCHING EVERYTHING THEY CAN." He took a deep breath to control his temper and blew out between his lips. Daniel stood there almost shaking from the explosion he had witnessed.

"Look, we are going to catch whoever is responsible for shooting Detective Longworth…. Jim…." He looked sincerely at his young assistant and finished, "everyone is doing everything we can." Closing his eyes and slumping his shoulders, he turned to continue back to the lab.

Colleen approached catching the tail end of her medical examiner's emotional explosion. She watched him walk away knowing that what had happened to their co-worker turned friend was taking its toll on all of them. She had her own suspicions but was choosing to do her own investigations. She patted Daniel on the back as she went by but stopped when he looked up at her like a pathetic puppy.

"Do you think you need to take some time off? I know this has been hard on you." Jim had been the reason that Daniel had this opportunity to fulfill his dream. She knew he loved this job more than anything and losing his mentor was proving devastating. Was he tearing up? Yes, he was! "Do you want to go home?"

"I really think I want to be here, Chief Manus. I just don't think… I can't go… I don't want to go home."

She nodded understanding leaving him to search the internet while wiping his eyes as she headed to the lab. She had another employee she needed to talk through this situation.


End file.
